WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Black Sunday (1960) 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:05.519 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:14.960 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:18.240 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:22.360 today we're going to be talking about Mario Bava's nineteen 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:27.720 sixty gothic horror classic Black Sunday. And I selected this 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:31.720 movie for this week because it is Halloween season. We're 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:35.239 in October, and I think if you're looking for a 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:40.160 very just core Halloween viewing experience and you've never seen 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.960 this one before, it's about as good as you can do. 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:48.000 Please take my recommendation and check out Black Sunday. It is, 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:52.440 I think, simultaneously, about as good and as close to 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:56.400 the bullseye of the gothic horror target as you can get. 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:59.200 It's got pretty much everything you could want in terms 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:03.520 of gothic horror texture, gothic horror themes, but it also 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:07.280 has added dashes of weirdness. It kind of cuts harder 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.880 and goes harder than most movies of this type. But 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:15.160 as far as the texture, you've got like searing, raging, 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.959 very hate oriented witchcraft. You know, the core witch in 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:23.360 the movie is constantly selling the virtues of hating. It's 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:26.960 got surprise vampires and the second act that I don't 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:29.600 think I really expected. There's sort of like one line 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.520 about vampires at the very beginning, but I don't know 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:34.360 when you get to them. I'm like, I didn't realize 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:37.199 this was going to be a vampire movie. It's got 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:42.120 undead paramours, you know, roaming the hills. It's got ruined castles, 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:48.840 roaring fires, secret passageways and trap doors, canopy beds, silver crucifixes, 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:54.520 some menacing Doperman's. I like that that detail in the prologue. 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:59.080 It's got the inquisition, hooded executioners, it has bat attacks, 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:03.320 it has moldy tombs and coffins with windows. It's got 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:08.760 beautiful deep black shadows, great high contrasts lighting and photography. 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:13.000 A lot of scenes with this, you know, kind of 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:18.360 frightening quality of being lit only by fading candlelight. This 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:23.080 unique concept, I would say, of a spiked bronze torture mask. 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:23.480 Rob. 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:26.080 Maybe we can get into if there's any really, really 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.639 any precedent for this. I'm sure it's come up before, 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:31.720 but it's imagine just an iron maiden, but only for 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:35.280 your face. And I have some notes on this, yeah, 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.960 and then also maybe one of the film's defining visual 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:44.320 features Barber Steel making laser eyes and giving monologues about 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:45.959 the exquisite pleasures of hate. 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.960 That's right. It really does have it all. Funeral shadows, 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:53.160 black hooded figures, the whole nine yards. This is a 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.200 film that everyone loves, and we're not going to really 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:58.280 pull any hot takes here. We love it as well. 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:02.760 It is a mass piece. It holds up exceedingly well. 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:05.400 And you know, I'm it's one of those films that 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.000 it's kind of surprising that I took so long to 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:12.400 see it myself. I've kind of come to it late 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:16.840 in my viewing of Mario Bava films, because I when 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:18.920 I think of Bava, I think of his you know, 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:24.720 those bright technicolor pictures, the fan hasmogorical color schemes of 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.520 like Planet of the Vampires or Blood and Black Lace, 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.920 And so whenever I would be in the mood to 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:33.440 put on a Bava film, I often find I watched 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.080 them on airplanes, by the way, and I watched this 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.600 one on an airplane. I'll often just sort of navigate 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:40.040 to the color ones. I'm like, okay, how about Lisa 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.120 and the devil or whatever. We'll try this one out, 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:44.960 and I'll just skip over Black Sunday because I'm like, well, 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:46.520 that's black and white. I don't know if I want 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:48.600 to see a Mario Bava black and white film. But 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.880 to no one's you know, to no one's surprised, it 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.040 is absolutely gorgeous and black and white. And as we'll discuss, 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.400 like this was his intention as well, he intentionally chose 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:02.360 to make this film his first solo directorial credit in 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:07.040 this just splendid, deep black and white gothic format. 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.160 I know exactly what you're talking about, because yes, also 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:13.720 I admire Bava as a filmmaker on mini levels. But 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:15.680 one of the first things I think about when I 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:18.360 think Mario Bava is like colored jell lights. I think 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:23.080 of or just strange, kind of non realistic but very 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:27.080 intuitively powerful uses uses of color in his films. You know, 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:31.120 his supernatural films often have this feeling where there is 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.080 magic in the air, and that magic is signaled by 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.560 the fact that the light is purple when there's no 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.279 realistic reason that it should be or you know, or 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.040 is green or some other strange color. So yeah, I 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:45.839 love those colors. And also you know the colors in 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.359 his sets, so the black and white energy is a 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.880 very different thing than I'm used to with Bava, but 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:54.960 it is so strong, And I like to be clear, 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:57.680 I like Black Sunday on pretty much every level. I 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.080 like the story, The script is very good, the the 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.640 acting is mostly pretty good. That you know, there's some 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:04.680 kind of creaky acting that you would get in a 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:10.359 lot of especially mid century dubbed horror films. Yeah, but 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:14.400 it's got very good editing, strong propulsive editing that drives 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.120 the story and heightens the horror and the tension. But 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.560 the best thing about this movie is the way that 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.840 it looks. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous. It's 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:27.000 got clever shot framing, beautiful use of shadows and light, 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:31.599 great set design and locations. And also I have to 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:36.279 single out a surprising, even shocking quality of gore for 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.720 a black and white film from nineteen sixty. And when 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.040 I say that, I don't mean that there's a lot 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.599 of gore. This is not a splatterfest. But what little 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:49.839 gore is there is just much more disturbing and visceral 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:50.960 than you would expect. 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.599 Absolutely, those moments of gore actually make you a little 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:58.000 thankful that it's not in color. There's more than enough 0:05:58.000 --> 0:05:59.480 to disturb you in the black and line. 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:03.320 Yeah. And also in terms of the film's visual appeal, 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.040 I would have to call out Barbara Steele's face as 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.520 an important part of the visual palette of the film. 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:11.800 I don't mean that just in the sense that like, oh, 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:14.200 she's a beautiful actress, which a lot of people do say, 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:17.599 but I mean that the faces she pulls for the 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:22.160 camera are like a distinct part of what this movie 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:24.200 is trying to do in terms of imagery. And it's 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:28.000 no accident. I think that most of the posters and 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:31.000 the artwork for the film are just like a sort 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:34.799 of almost caricature level drawing of Barbara Steele's face, making 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:40.760 those wide, horrifying eyes. She is a unique looking actress naturally, 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:44.160 but in this movie she makes faces that could peel garlic. 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:45.640 It's absolutely unreal. 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:47.840 Yeah, Because, as we'll discuss it, as a dual role, 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:53.120 she plays a long ago executed witch who has now 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.160 in the course of the film, come back to life 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:01.760 in unnatural, undead form, and she also plays that character's 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:06.640 great granddaughter, so she gets to play enormy and then 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:08.839 she also gets to play you know, queen of the 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:12.160 Dead essentially, So it is in that role as this 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.400 undead witch that she really gets to just shine with 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:16.320 manic energy. 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.480 Yeah, and actually you can combine two of those things 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.760 I singled out in some of the film's most striking frames, 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.120 the gore and the barber steel eyes on. There's sometimes 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.960 where she's in witch mode and she's making the witch face, 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.800 but also she has holes in her face from this 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.400 torture mask and they look like barnacles. It's disgusting. 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.800 Yes, yeah, we'll have a lot to say about this, 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:42.600 but yeah, it makes perfect sense that this film would 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:45.440 be absolutely stunning and beautiful in black and white. Take 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.480 Mario Baba's additional color palette away from him, and he 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.800 still is a master cinematographer, you know, and at this 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.240 point in his career we'll allude to, you know, he 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.480 had served as a cinematographer on numerous films. He was 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:00.720 he was not a newbie, even though this was his 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.080 first solo directorial effort. And for listeners to the show, 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.240 you have heard us talk about Mario Baba before. This 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.960 is actually our fifth Mario Baba selection for Weird House Cinema. 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:15.920 Following episodes on sixty three's Black Sabbath, which was essentially 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.160 a kind of a sequel, not really a sequel, but 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.720 a spiritual successor to this film in some ways. 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:23.680 An anthology film in that. 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:27.880 Case, Yeah, Boris Karloff of course, sixty five's Planet of 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.320 the Vampires essentially like the granddaddy of sci fi horror, 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:37.079 sixty eight Danger Diabolic, an excellent super crime movie, and 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:41.200 sixty one's Hercules in the Haunted World, that rare horror 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:46.720 peplam film in which Hercules and a tragically dubbed Christopher 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:49.000 Lee go at it in the underworld. 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.160 Oh yeah, I can sometimes forget Christopher Lee is in 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:54.920 that one. That is not one of Christopher Lee's greatest roles, 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:56.400 but the movie's pretty fun. 0:08:57.240 --> 0:09:00.400 Yeah, And as of this recording, the only other director 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:02.800 whose work we featured five times on the show is 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:07.720 Roger Corman. So yeah, Bob and Corman are right there 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.560 at the top as of this recording. Maybe we'll do 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:13.160 a bunch of other films by another director and they'll 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.960 equal and surpass them, But we'll see. I will allude 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.120 to some other facts about this film's release. There are 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.000 some different versions of it, depending on where it was released. 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:25.559 But I was looking in some of my favorite film 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:30.679 volumes for a few tidbits about the movie, and Michael Weldon, 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:32.839 in one of his Psychotronic Film Guides, points out that 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.000 when the film premiered in Cleveland at the Allen Theater, 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:37.920 I believe this would have been This would have been 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:44.240 the AIP the American International Pictures release. As a promotionary tactic, 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.320 they handed out cards to the patrons that featured a 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:51.760 protective chant. I guess, so when the film gets too scary, 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.720 you can just look down at your chant card and 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.200 start reciting it in order to protect you from the 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:58.240 evils on the screen. 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:00.480 Oh, it's like the Tingler. It's like you have to 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.280 scream in the theater to protect yourself from the Tingler 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:05.640 getting you. But in this case there are words you 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:07.839 got to yeah, or not memorized. You can read off 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:08.320 the cards. 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:10.280 Yeah, I mean, if you really are concerned, you can 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:13.559 memorize it. But yeah, I wish, we wish we did 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:15.680 more things like this going to the There are all 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:17.920 these bells and whistles with going to the theater, and 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.200 theaters are doing, you know, all sorts of things to 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:22.720 keep theaters going as they should. I think it's an 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:27.080 important part of of the the film viewing experience. But 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:29.439 we need we need more gimmicks like this. We need 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:34.400 protective amulets, we need you know, death clauses. I don't know, 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:35.400 all the bells. 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:39.240 And whistles, smellovision, Yeah, bring back smell vision. Okay. Were 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:41.320 you able to find any good trailer audio for this one? 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:44.920 Yeah, there's a little bit here. This is a this 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:46.520 is a US trailer. I guess this is the A 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:48.960 I P trailer. Uh so, let's hear a little bit 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.120 from this. It does have some nice old fashioned narration. 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:53.040 Maybe we won't listen to the whole thing, we'll just 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:53.880 listen to a little bit. 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:09.400 Anguish and terror are powerful words, but more than words, 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.880 the chill language of living images shows that The Mask 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:17.160 of Satan is a picture of unparalleled emotion, but it 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:21.400 hards a tale of a strange, dark fascination set in 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:23.679 a spine chilling atmosphere of fear. 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:26.839 Fear. 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:31.320 It's death. 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:44.080 I've just seen death, suspense in the unexpected, combined to 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:49.000 create an impression beyond any imagination, of an indescribable fantasy, 0:11:49.640 --> 0:12:12.680 coupled with an unmeasurable reality. 0:11:52.760 --> 0:12:17.240 Ah, but it's impossible. Father, he moved, even spoke to me, 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:19.679 then he ran away. 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:25.720 Sometimes Satan, with his capacity for doing evil, even plays 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:26.600 tricks with the dead. 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:36.560 All right, So if you would like to jump out 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:40.800 and watch Black Sunday for the first time, or just 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.040 to refresh yourself before continuing on with this episode, or 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:45.920 you want to look up look it up after listening 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:49.600 to the whole episode, that's also okay. Well, I think 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:51.320 the most important Well, there are two things that are 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:53.880 important to realize about it. First of all, it is 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.360 the nineteen sixty Black Sunday film you want to defind, 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:01.280 not the Black Sunday film about the blimp. That's a 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.199 different picture entirely and has nothing to do with vampire's 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:05.439 or satanic worship. 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.160 I've never seen that with like a crime thriller? 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:08.839 Is it? 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:09.880 John Frankenheimer. 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:12.960 I know it's what is based on Thomas Harris book, 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:14.679 but it's not one of the Thomas Harris books that 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:17.120 I ever read. Maybe Thomas Harris was a co author 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.400 on that one. I'm a little foggy on it, but 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.000 it does not contain witches. So that's your first step. 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.880 Make sure you're watching the right Black Sunday. And then 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:29.600 on top of that, there have been a few different releases. 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.600 There's that American International Pictures cut of the film that 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.240 was originally released in the US, and I believe that 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.000 one cut down eighty seven minutes of screen time to 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.400 eighty three, cutting out a little bit of gore, a 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:46.080 little bit of sexuality, also adding in different dubbing and 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:49.160 a different score. More details on that in a minute. 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:52.400 It was released as The Mask of Satan, which I 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:56.040 think is actually the translation of the original Italian title, 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:58.680 and there have been at least two other versions released 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.920 as well, including a UK Revenge of the Vampire release. 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:04.200 Not a good title, I'm gonna go ahead and say, 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:08.240 but yeah, a lot of American viewers grew up with 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:11.800 that AIP version and it has an important place in 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:15.160 their heart. But I think the more widely available version 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:19.160 right now, especially via streaming, is an eighty seven minute 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:23.280 cut restored from the original camera negative, and I believe 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:26.320 this is the version with the original Italian score and 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:30.000 the original English audio that was recorded in Rome, as 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.080 opposed to the AIP audio. But going back and forth 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:35.760 on some of these details, I was a little bit 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:42.560 confused about which version I saw and heard, because I 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:44.920 don't know. It's like they as we'll discuss, there are 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:48.840 these two distinct scores, but it's not like a legend 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:52.520 situation where one is Tangerine Dream and one isn't, and 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:55.320 therefore you can hear a startling difference between the two. 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.920 It's perhaps more of a subtle difference between the two score, 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:03.440 but one you know, certainly more you can see where 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:07.640 less Baxter's score was maybe a little more palpable for 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:12.440 the American audience. But the eighty seven minute version that 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:14.680 I watched, I believe this is also the version is 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.840 sometimes called the international version, the one that's currently widely 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:22.240 available from Shout Screen Factory via their Black Sunday Collector's edition, 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:26.280 also their Mario Bava Collection box set, and outside the US. 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.320 I think Aro has also put out a nice blu 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.040 ray of this as well. But just look for the 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:32.760 eighty seven minutes. I think if you get the eighty 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.480 seven minute version, you're going to get all the good stuff. 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:37.520 You're going to get the right amount of gore, and 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.880 you're going to get as far as the sexuality, it's 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:43.000 like there's a single kiss in the film that I 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:44.560 believe was cut out that sort of thing. 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:46.440 It's not the sexiest film in. 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:49.000 History, no, but it was maybe a little too sexy 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:51.280 for nineteen sixties America. 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.440 Regarding the score, I actually meant to check out the 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.240 Less Baxter score to make sure that wasn't the one 0:15:57.280 --> 0:15:59.560 that I heard. I don't think it was, but I'm 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:04.240 intra in that from what I've read, the Less Baxter 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:08.000 score is actually considered more bombastic and kind of like 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.800 high energy, and the Italian score is thought to be 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:12.080 more subtle. 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.040 Yeah, that's my understanding as well. And interestingly enough, it's 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:18.960 the exact same individuals involved with the score of sixty 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.680 three's Black Sabbath. So the original score is by Italian 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:26.080 jazz band leader Roberto Nicolosi, who lived nineteen fourteen through 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:30.000 nineteen eighty nine, and then it's Less Baxter, who lived 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.720 on the American version twenty two through ninety six, the 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:37.640 King of Exotica and also later a dabbler in minimal 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.200 electronic synth scoring. We have discussed him multiple times in 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.360 the show before I've listened. I tried to compare a 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:46.480 little bit, and yeah, I did get a sense that 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:50.000 Baxter's score is a little bit more brassy, you know, 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.320 and a little bit more in your face. But also, 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:57.040 you know, I don't know, I'm I think I wouldn't 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.240 really have paid that much attention. I feel like either 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:05.480 score is probably pretty good. 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:11.600 All right, we talked about the connections. 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.040 Yeah, yeah, I guess we did skip ahead and went 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:16.080 ahead and talked about the music. So we'll come back 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:18.439 to the top and talk just a little bit about 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:22.760 Mario Bava, the director, the cinematographer on this one. He 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.560 lived nineteen fourteen through nineteen eighty. We've discussed him before, 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:33.200 legendary Italian director with an unmistakable just obsessive, fadantasmagorical emphasis 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:37.760 on visual composition. Even already you were talking about this 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.320 is a film in which the casket has a window 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.399 in it. Yes, And I think that's such a great 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.080 Mario Bava touch, because I feel like any film that 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:50.440 I see of his, there is a fascination with, or 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:55.760 even an obsession with portals and windows and doors, seeing 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:59.800 things through other things, through other frames. Yes, yeah, yeah, 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.040 so yeah, you see a lot of that in his work. 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:04.920 This is a guy who took it all very seriously. 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:08.199 So he'd worked as a cinematographer, special effects artist and 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.280 co director for decades at this point, but again, this 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.760 was his first solo directorial credit in nineteen sixty He 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:19.680 previously worked on several films by Italian production company Galatea, 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:22.080 and this was his chance to make a film aimed 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.520 at the foreign market, a gothic horror film patterned on 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:29.320 the recent success of Terrence Fisher's Dracula in nineteen fifty eight. 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.199 Oh interesting, So this is kind of a response to 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:35.680 early Hammer exactly. 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:39.320 Yeah, early, yeah. Those early Hammer films were making a 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:41.919 lot of money, and so the studios like, let's do it, 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:43.160 let's get in on this action. 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.760 Baba, turn it up, turn up, yeah, turn it up 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:47.280 to eleven. 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:50.480 Yeah. Yeah. So Baba got to pick the story, and 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:55.080 he made his choice, reportedly based on a scary bedtime 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.560 story that he had read to his own children, This 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:02.000 being v by Nikolai Gogel, which had already been adapted 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:04.840 for film as early as nineteen oh nine in What 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.560 Was I'm to Understand, the first Russian horror film, a 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:12.480 short silent picture, and would also later be adapted more 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.119 notably in nineteen sixty seven in a film of the 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:19.080 same name, Black Sunday, however, is ultimately only loosely based 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:22.760 on that Gogle story. Bava, apparently, as I alluded to, 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:25.400 already had the chance to film this one in technicolor, 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:27.960 but pushed for black and white. He said, you know, 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:29.359 this is going to be the better fit. This is 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:31.479 going to fit the mood. This is Gothic horr. It 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:32.920 needs to be black and white. 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:34.280 I think it's a good choice. 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:38.720 Yeah. He also has apparently he did some uncredited work 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:41.840 on the screenplay. He also did paintings and matte paintings 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:45.240 and special effects for the picture, just as is often 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:48.920 the case, hyper involved in the visuals. And I should 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:51.199 also point out that Mario Bava was the son of 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:55.680 cinematographer and special effects artist Eugeniobava, who lived eighteen eighty 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:58.800 six through nineteen sixty six, who is credited on this 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:01.520 film as sculptor of masks and faces. 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:05.200 Oh, I wonder if that includes the titular in some versions, 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:06.560 mask of Satan. 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.560 That is I assume that has to be the case. Yeah, 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:13.520 all right. There are some additional screenplay play credits, and 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:18.320 I'm going to focus on the ones that are definitely credited. Here. 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:24.120 We have screenplay credit to Eneo di Concini, who lived 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:27.359 nineteen twenty three through two thousand and eight Italian writer, 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:30.520 director and producer, whose other scripts include nineteen sixty three's 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.640 Divorce Italian Style, which earned him and his co writers 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.520 the nineteen sixty three Oscar for Best Writing Story and 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:40.200 Screenplay written directly for the screen. Other scripts include fifty 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:42.560 six is War in Peace, sixty three's The Girl who 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.480 Knew Too Much, sixty nine is The Red Tense, seventy 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:48.560 six is Salon Kitty, and seventy eight's Just a Jigglow 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:51.280 that's the David Bowie film, among many others. 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:53.040 I was about to say that I thought The Girl 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.960 who Knew Too Much was another Mario Bava film that 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:58.719 I'd seen more of, a Jallo style film, also in 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.639 black and white. But then I was like, wait a minute, 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:03.960 or am I confusing that with another movie called The 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:07.920 Evil Eye. I guess I was, and I wasn't, because 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:11.159 they're different cuts of the same movie known by different titles. 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:13.040 Oh man, yeah, I haven't seen this one. This one 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:14.159 is John Saxon in it. 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:18.040 Yeah. John Saxon plays an Italian hunk, so the main 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:22.520 character in it is an American tourist played by Letitia 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:27.080 Ramon who she's in Rome and she witnesses a murderer 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.920 I think, and then believes that somebody's coming after her, 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:35.399 so she's running around Rome trying to do murder investigation. 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:37.000 I don't know, It's been a little while since I've 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:39.000 seen it, so I forgot some of the details. But 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:41.600 John Saxon is the local honk who she ends up 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:43.240 having a romance with. 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:45.159 I need to see that one. I mean, I have 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:47.960 to put that one on the list. Let's see another 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:52.199 screenplay credit goes to Mario Serre, who have nineteen oh 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:55.639 seven through nineteen sixty six, a film editor who worked 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:59.360 with Bava on several films I believe, including this one 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:02.240 and the excellent nineteen sixty four Blood and Black Lace. 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:05.000 But he was also an occasional writer. And then on 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:08.320 top of that, we have George Higgins nineteen seventeen through 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:11.320 two thousand and five credited with English dialogue. I'm a 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.000 little now, I have to stress, I'm a little uncertain 0:22:14.040 --> 0:22:18.359 of we're dealing with the original English dub recorded in 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:22.159 Rome or the AIP dub at any rate. He was 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:26.480 an American writer, actor, and voice dubber so yeah. Of note, 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:29.959 it's my understanding that everyone is dubbed here, even the 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:33.440 English language actors in the English language dub. 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:36.560